KANSAS CITY, Kan. – When Atlanta United routed a downtrodden Sporting KC on Sunday night, it finally looked like the Atlanta that everyone was expecting to see heading into the 2019 season.
Their confidence was evident, Josef Martinez put the ball in the back of the net (twice), and both Pity Martinez and Ezequiel Barco put together large stretches where they showed their potential going forward.
Atlanta United manager Frank de Boer called it their best performance of the season.
“Result and how we played, I think yes,” DeBoer told reporters after the match. “I think against Dallas [a 2-1 loss] we played really good, but we didn’t get the reward. Now we get the reward. I’m very pleased. It was a very solid performance and we created our chances, we almost gave nothing away, we were confident, we had confidence on the ball, it’s what we want to see from our team.”
Atlanta put in a complete performance on both sides of the ball. They created the better of the chances, had more possession, and took more shots. At the same time, they held a Sporting KC attack that was second in the league in goals scored to just three shots on target, with the first not coming until the score was 2-0.
That type of performance usually brings a big morale boost, and the Atlanta United locker-room was a party after the game with loud music, singing, smiles and jokes all around. De Boer recognized how important moments like that were for the team, especially as this match started off a stretch of eight games in 28 days.
“For every team it’s crucial, to have these kinds of moments,” de Boer said. “It gives you a boost, especially against a very good team. They had a lot of injuries, but they also had almost every player that would normally play. Maybe at the back they struggled a bit, but they also had a lot of quality on the pitch. I think we dominated in every aspect today, and it’s a very positive boost to the confidence of our team.”
Goalkeeper, Brad Guzan, pointed out that a start like this makes it easier for them to have the confidence necessary to get through their daunting schedule through June 1.
“When you play a lot of games like this back to back in a row it’s important to get off to a good start,” Guzan told reporters. “But, also for the confidence going into the other games, when you play well as we did tonight, you’re ready for the next one. Mentally it becomes easier to play that amount of games in that amount of time.
So are Atlanta United back?
“It’s a good start,” Guzan continued. “It doesn’t mean we’re the best team in the league. It doesn’t mean everything you guys are going to write. It means that we’ve had a good start to this set of games, and we’ve got to keep going.”
